A chemically amplified positive resist composition used for semiconductor microfabrication employing a lithography process contains an acid generator comprising a compound generating an acid by irradiation.
In semiconductor microfabrication, it is desirable to form patterns having high resolution and excellent exposure margin, and it is expected for a chemically amplified resist composition to give such patterns.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,221 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,713 B1 disclose a chemically amplified resist composition containing triphenylsulfonium perfluorobutanesulfonate as the acid generator.
US 2003/0194639 A1 also discloses a chemically amplified resist composition containing the salt represented by the following formulae:
or the like as the acid generator.